Warriors forward Draymond Green already made vacation plans before the All-Stars were announced

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Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green (23) reacts after a call against him while playing the Houston Rockets during the fourth quarter of their NBA game at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif. on Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019. The Houston Rockets defeated the Golden State Warriors in overtime 135-134. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

OAKLAND – For perhaps the first time in his NBA career, Draymond Green does not feel snubbed over something that implies he has not played his best basketball.

Green will not compete in the NBA All-Star game next Sunday in Charlotte, N.C. It marks the end of a three-year run for the Warriors’ intense defender and versatile playmaker being part of the league’s event reserved for its most elite players. Unlike his reaction to being left off the NBA’s All-Defensive team last season, Green considers the All-Star exclusion as offering “zero” source of motivation.

“I had already planned my vacation anyway. I haven’t played well enough to make the All-Star team,” Green said. “I know that. I’m excited to go on vacation with my family.”

He hopes to have what he called a “mental reset” that he believes will both help him become an All-Star player again and help the Warriors win their fourth NBA championship in five years. After all, the beginning of Green’s season hardly played out as he envisioned. He missed a combined 15 games this season, including 13 because of an injured right toe, another to rest and a one-game suspension for his well-chronicled argument with Kevin Durant.

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Since then, Warriors coach Steve Kerr has pinpointed Green as the main reason for the Warriors (39-15) entering Sunday’s game against the Miami Heat (25-28) at Oracle Arena winning 14 of their past 15 games. During that stretch, Green has averaged 8.1 assists, 7.1 rebounds and only 1.9 turnovers.

Because of that, Green appeared to have an outside chance to make the All-Star team along with Durant, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson for the third consecutive year. Kerr admitted having doubts, though. So did Green.

“When you make the All-Star game, it’s based on the season. You can’t find your rhythm and then put two or three weeks or a month of good basketball,” Green said. “Guys have been playing well all season. So they should be rewarded for that.”

Green argued that should have included Sixers guard Tobias Harris, who averaged 20.0 points on 49.6 percent shooting this season with the Clippers before dealing him to Philadelphia as part of a move to clear cap space and collect draft picks before Thursday’s trade deadline. Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert also believed he should have it too because of the same defensive presence that won him last season’s Defensive Player of the Year award. So much that he cried about the snub on camera.

Green immediately poked fun at Gobert in a tweet. Recently, Green only elaborated about the dig at Gobert by saying “the guy is passionate.” Green spoke more in depth, though, on what sparked the tweet in the first place.

“There’s a lot of people in the world that’s really dumb. They really thought I thought I should’ve made the All-Star game,” Green said. “Maybe people can’t self evaluate. If people can’t self evaluate? For someone who can’t self evaluate themselves, then they think that, ‘Wow, Draymond thinks he’s playing amazing.’ Then they think I can’t self evaluate.”

Instead, Green said he made vacation plans during All-Star weekend with enough confidence that he would not have to cancel them.

“I just haven’t played well enough. Obviously the majority of the time most people are building their All-Star case, I was kind of building conditioning,” Green said. “So it happens. But I’ll be back. I’m not tripping. There were a lot of guys playing well.”